DIY Life

I don't know about you, but when I think of homemade butter, I picture long afternoons spent at a butter churn. But did you know that you can make fresh, tasty butter in the comfort of your own modern kitchen? Not only is it simple, the results are immediately edible.

Apartment Therapy's Ohdedoh shares the simple steps for making homemade butter. All you need is some heavy cream, a jar, and some kids to do the shaking. Or, you can make life easier for everyone and put the cream in your food processor with either a plastic blade or its regular chopping blade. I'm not saying your kids won't like to shake, but when they get tired out, it's your biceps that are going to be aching.

When it's done, you can either eat it immediately or "work it" and store it in the fridge. For more details on how to make this yummy treat, check out the gallery below. Before you begin, I highly recommend baking a batch of homemade muffins or bread. You'll thank me later, I promise.

(via Craftzine)

I love the smell of microwave popcorn. I love how it lingers in the house until morning, tempting me to have another bag before lunch. It turns out that that fresh butter smell is completely simulated. A chemical called Diacetyl, which smells like real butter and can be very dangerous. Diacetyl can cause a serious lung disease, previously known to effect popcorn factory workers, but now believed to threaten consumers as well. What's the alternative? Eating less popcorn? I don't think so.

Lighterfootstep.com suggests dumping this store-bought poison in favor of a homemade version. I didn't know that you could make your own microwave popcorn, but they explain it quite simply. All you need are some organic kernels, a paper lunch bag, and staples or tape. You'll have to test things a bit to see the ideal cooking time for your microwave, but once you get the hang of it, this could be just as easy as the real (or not so real) thing.

I really enjoy painting and all the work involved. Choosing my color, knowing that I am making something beautiful that will last a long time, gives me a great feeling of satisfaction.

Painting wouldn't be all that fun if I didn't at least get some of it on my skin, right? Considering that paint isn't meant to wash away, removing it has often been a painful and difficult process.

Using strong chemicals such as mineral spirits, paint thinner, or turpentine can be smelly, dangerous, and often unnecessary. I try as often as possible not to use these items as I have an extremely sensitive nose and often get instant migraines from the fumes, even when I wear a mask. So here are a few of my favorite alternatives to the harsh chemicals.

The instructions I have for you here represent one of the easiest bird feeder kit designs I have ever encountered. This is not my own original design but when I came across it I immediately recognized the sheer brilliance of it. The engineering of the Peanut Butter Jar Bird Feeder will astound you with its classic simplicity and timeless design.

• Materials: Peanut butter jar, any size; Coat hanger; One stick similar to a pencil.

• Time: Approximately one hour

• Tools: Modeling knife or utility knife. Heavy wire cutter (optional), Drill and bits (optional)
  

• Steps:

1. Begin by separating the jar from the lid. Put a hole through the center of the lid, just large enough to fit the coat hanger wire through. You may use a drill or just wing it.
   

I believe there are few things in life that are more comforting than butter, unless of course you mix butter with sugar, flour, eggs and chocolate for a batch of cookies. When I was a child I can remember my mother making an occasional batch of butter, but the kitchen is not a friendly place for me and I have never attempted to do make butter on my own. However, the folks at Positron.org have given a very descriptive step-by-step instructional on how to make your own batch of butter.

The directions state that a butter churn is the best way to make butter, but as mentioned on our sister site, Slashfood by Sarah Gim, few of us have one of those kicking around the kitchen. A jar or decent sized container will work for the churning process, but a food processor is thought to be too rough on the butter. Another recipe that does not require a churn sounds like it might be better for entry level butter makers. This one sounds more like the way I remember my mother making butter. I suspect that the first method might overwhelm a beginning butter make, but if you have a hankering to make butter the second method just might be the way.